The 24th Aldeburgh Literary Festival will take place from Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th March 2025

Tickets go on sale from 10 am on Saturday 4th January 2025

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‘arguably the most important, high quality and diverse celebration of the spoken word’

‘... a Festival in every sense’ (Frances Wilson)

‘I was moved, and interested, and amused’ (Jenny Uglow)

‘Quite the nicest literary festival’ (Charles Moore)

‘[We have] been to many literary festivals but I can honestly say that Aldeburgh’s combination of bracing sea air, intimacy and intellectual sharpness puts it at the very top of our list’ (Charles Allen)

The Aldeburgh Literary Festival was started in 2002 by John and Mary James of The Aldeburgh Bookshop. It has featured an extraordinary variety of talks, from the local to the global, the serious to the hilarious, the scientific to the philosophical. The Festival is proud to be located in Aldeburgh at the Jubilee Hall and we are delighted that our audience fills the streets of Aldeburgh with visitors and conversation in a winter weekend. The intimate atmosphere makes it very special. We are also proud that this is a completely independent Literary Festival receiving no grants or sponsorship.

The Aldeburgh Literary Festival Ticketing Policy

Over the past 18 years we have developed a system. We have decided that this is the least worst system for our particular problem, which is horrendous oversubscription.

We will endeavour here to answer some of your frequently asked questions about our first-come first-served system.

Please remember that we are a completely independent festival, without sponsorship or grants, which is the way we wish it to be.

FAQS

When will I receive a Booking Form?

The date for sending out booking forms is Saturday 6th January 2024. Last year for the first time, we sent the booking forms by email due to the Royal Mail strike and we will be doing this again.

Please note that booking forms returned to the shop in person will take precedence over bookings received by email. We will process the email orders after the ones received at the shop. This gives the locals a chance.

Why can't I book by telephone or email?

Applications returned to the bookshop either in person or by post will be given precedence over email orders. We have neither the staff nor the e-commerce resources to set up a telephone or website system for an event that only takes place once a year.

By taking only physical forms we are giving the advantage to local Aldeburgh and Suffolk residents. These are the people whom we hope are our regular customers and who support the bookshop throughout the year. So please note, Aldeburgh, you do have the advantage. We don't mind if you make multiple applications for friends.

Last year I brought my form in to the bookshop as soon as I got it but didn't get all the tickets I wanted. Why is that?

We date-stamp the forms in the order that they are received at the bookshop.

There will always be some element of lottery in this process. All the booking forms will arrive in your inbox at the same time.

Some of the more popular events sell out within a few hours of the tickets going on sale. Every year it gets faster. We have over nearly 2,000 people on our mailing list. We have only 235 seats in the Jubilee Hall.

We could charge more for each event, which might limit the applications: but we do like the idea that the Festival is open to all. We don't want to exclude people on grounds of expense. We have kept the ticket price reasonable over the past years. And also please note that there are no hidden extras for using credit or debit cards or sending the tickets out. Unlike other web-based ticketing sites.

Why don't you limit the number of tickets per household?

We have explained over the years that we don't mind people putting in multiple applications or pooling applications. Book clubs sometimes wish to come together and we don't feel it is up to us to limit any group.

Will I have more chance of getting tickets if I buy the Rover Ticket to all events?

Not really. We allocate the same number of Rovers each year. So for a few hours of booking, some people will get tickets to everything where some individual events have already sold out. But it all evens out. In the past few years all the Rovers have sold out as well, in which case we will ring you to offer you what tickets we do have.

The Rover encourages people to go to some of the talks that they might not otherwise select. Every year people express surprise about enjoying a talk that is slightly outside their normal area of expertise.

Why don't you have a Friends Booking Scheme?

We don't have a Friends or Priority booking scheme, because the Festival is just not big enough. There is no charge to be on the mailing list. If you paid to be a Friend or be on the mailing list, then you would be understandably annoyed if you didn't get the tickets you wanted. We just aren't big enough to have a Priority Booking system. We do now explain the situation to people when they ask to go on the mailing list. If you don't want to be on the mailing list and enter the fray, then do contact us and we will take you off the mailing list immediately.

Why don't you select the applications by ballot?

We have skewed the booking system to favour the locals - it is their town and their festival.

Everything sells out, so is there any point trying to apply for tickets?

As soon as one event sells out, the rumours fly that it is all sold out. This is rarely the case in the first week of booking. Not everything sells out, and we encourage you to be adventurous and try the lesser known names. We keep a waiting list for every event and endeavour to contact you as soon as any tickets become available.

And to conclude ...

We hope that covers most of your questions. Do please try and remember that we want you to come and we want it to be a happy and stimulating Festival. We do hate having to disappoint people, but we are often oversubscribed so it is inevitable that some people will not get tickets.

If you don't get tickets one year, then do try again. Or move to Aldeburgh.

Previous Speakers

GALLERY 2024

The Festival Opens

Oliver Soden in coversation with Elizabeth Burke

Oliver Soden in conversation with Elizabeth Burke

Susan Owens

Richard Dannatt

Jesse Norman in conversation with Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Daniel Finkelstein in conversation with Nick Robinson

Jesse Norman in conversation with Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Daniel Finkelstein in conversation with Nick Robinson

Timothy Garton Ash

Daniel Finkelstein in conversation with Nick Robinson

Timothy Garton Ash

Katie Hickman